


(not gonna) write you a love song

by accidentallymelted



Category: Women's Hockey RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 10:51:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8976697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/accidentallymelted/pseuds/accidentallymelted
Summary: Amanda sits down, hard, on the squashy ottoman nearest to her and grips her phone tighter. “Say that again?” she says, a little weakly, and on the other end of the line Phil sighs.
“The Pride have invited you to come on their tour as an opening act,” he says.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [draftlottery](https://archiveofourown.org/users/draftlottery/gifts).



> Title from Sara Bareilles. This is largely fluff with only a vague sketchy outline of a plot, so happy holidays, draftlottery! I hope that you like it.

Amanda sits down, hard, on the squashy ottoman nearest to her and grips her phone tighter. “Say that again?” she says, a little weakly, and on the other end of the line Phil sighs.

“The Pride have invited you to come on their tour as an opening act,” he says again, patiently. “For the North America leg of the tour, anyway. If you want I can try to negotiate for the European leg as well, but I don’t know if they already have people lined up for that leg.”

“Um,” Amanda says, then starts laughing helplessly. “Yes, I would _love_ to - and if you can get the European leg, please do.”

“Gotcha,” Phil says, and she can hear the sound of keys clacking in the background. “I’ll let them know. Keep an eye on your email, sis - and better start practicing.” He hangs up, and Amanda sits there on the ottoman for a brief moment before jumping in the air and punching it repeatedly.

“Yes!” she shouts, and does a little dance, spinning around and around in her studio and laughing breathlessly. Noora pokes her head in after a moment and raises an eyebrow quizzically.

“I’m going on tour,” Amanda says, running over to Noora and grabbing her up in a tight hug. “The Pride asked me to be one of their opening acts for their North American tour!”

Noora’s smile is enormous. “Congratulations, Kess!” she says, and grabs Amanda tight to spin her around. “You’re gonna kill it.”

Amanda laughs, overjoyed and a little dizzy. “I can hardly believe it.”

“You’re going to do great,” Noora says. She puts Amanda down and grabs her by the hand, pulling her out of the studio and into their living room. “Now come on, we need to celebrate. With shots!”

0o0o0o0o0

_This is stupid_ , Amanda thinks to herself as she pulls into the lot where The Pride’s tour is rehearsing, feeling butterflies swirl around in her stomach. _You’ve been on tours before, get a grip_. She hesitates for a moment. _You’ve never been on a tour this_ big _before, but get a grip._  

She takes a deep breath and gets out of the car, wiping her damp palms off on her jeans before she retrieves her guitar from the backseat. She takes another deep breath and blows it out, trying to settle herself, before heading off in the direction of the most hustle and bustle on the lot.

A short blonde woman is standing in the middle of everything, directing traffic with one hand as she talks into a headset. As Amanda watches, she pauses briefly to sign something held out to her on a clipboard while gesturing animatedly with her other hand. She spots Amanda after waving off the man with the clipboard and waves her over, finishing up her conversation as Amanda approaches.

“You must be Amanda Kessel,” she says, holding out a hand. Amanda has to switch her guitar over to her left hand before she shakes it, feeling a little stupid, but the woman just smiles. “I’m Dani Rylan, the tour manager. Thanks for joining us.”

“Thanks for having me,” Amanda says.

“Right, we’ve got a lot to cover,” Dani says briskly. “Come on, bring your guitar, and I’ll introduce you to everyone you need to know.”

0o0o0o0o0

“All right, I think we got it,” Bobby says, his megaphone glinting a little in the reflected stage lights. “Did you like that?”

Amanda props her guitar against the stool she’s been sitting on and stands up to stretch. “Yeah, that felt good,” she says, hearing the way her voice echoes over the sound system. “It sound okay from up there?”

From the tech booth, she can see Bobby and his team giving her the thumbs up. “Sounded great,” he says. “You’re sure you don’t want to stand up and move around a little more?”

Amanda laughs, pushing some of her hair out of her face. “Nah, I’m good. Besides, you’ve got more than enough stuff to worry about with The Pride. I saw them on tour last year - it was really impressive.”

“Thanks,” comes an amused voice from behind her. “It’s always nice to hear that we put on a good show.”

Amanda spins around, and finds herself face to face with half of The Pride. Hilary Knight and Brianna Decker are standing off to stage left, wearing casual clothes and looking at her with interest. Amanda’s been in meetings with various tour people all week, but she hasn’t met any of the band yet, so she feels completely thrown off.

Brianna Decker comes forward with her hand outstretched. “Hi, I’m Brianna and this is Hilary,” she says. “And you’re - Kessel, right? The singer/songwriter?”

“Amanda,” says Amanda, shaking Brianna’s hand. “And yeah, that’s me.”

“Knighter won’t shut up about you ,” Brianna says in a confiding tone just as Hilary comes over to them. “She’s got every song on your album memorized.”

Amanda feels herself going pink in the face, and looks up as Hilary groans and shoves at Brianna’s shoulder, looking a little red in the face herself. “Oh my god, why do we ever let you talk to anybody?” she complains. She shoots Amanda a sheepish smile. “Sorry about her, really. I’m Hilary.”

Amanda, because she is her mother’s daughter, schools her face into her best “celebrity” smile and holds out her hand. “Always happy to meet a fan,” she says, and Brianna cackles, delighted.

“Oh, I _like_ you,” she says, grinning madly as Hilary blushes even harder. “We are going to be _friends_.”

“Oh no,” Hilary mutters, and Amanda smiles at her again, this time a real smile.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she says. “I’m a fan, too - I’m so excited to tour with you guys.”

Hilary’s still blushing, but she smiles back at Amanda. It feels like a Moment. The moment stretches, until -

“ _Well,_ ” Brianna drawls. Amanda jumps a little, almost having forgotten she was there, and she can see Hilary glaring at her. “As amusing as this is, Knighter, we’ve got our own rehearsal in ten, so we should probably get to warm-ups before Cap and K-Bells come looking for us.”

“Ugh,” Hilary mutters. “It was really nice to meet you, Amanda. I’m looking forward to having you with us on tour.”

“Me too. It was nice to meet you!” Amanda calls after them as Brianna grabs Hilary by the arm and drags her away. They turn and wave over their shoulders as they leave, and Amanda waves back, not quite sure what else to do with herself.

0o0o0o0o0

“Kess! I’m _bored_ ,” Hilary groans, flopping over onto her bunk. The tour bus bounces and sways a little with the road, but Amanda ignores it as she gets up from where she was curled up on her bunk, messing with a song, and makes her way over to where Hilary is sprawled on her back, one hand flung over her face dramatically.

“We’ve been on the road for half an hour,” Amanda says, sitting down next to Hilary and reaching out to shove her hair aside. “You’ve been on tour before, you’d think you’d be better at this.”

Hilary pouts up at her. “I’m not _bad_ at this,” she argues, sitting up and turning to face Amanda, her face earnest. “I brought a bunch of stuff to do on the bus! I’m just _tired_ of it. It’s been three weeks, and I’m _bored_.”

Amanda hums thoughtfully. “Do you have any cards?”

Half an hour later, she throws down her hand in disgust. “You’re a filthy cheat, Knight,” she says, looking at the straight flush Hilary has apparently dealt herself. “How did you do that?”

“Skills,” Hilary says, sounding smug and not even slightly repentant.

“I’m never playing cards with you again,” Amanda mutters, and Hilary pouts at her.

“Kess, c’mon,” she whines. “No one else will play with me!”

“I can see why,” Amanda says, and sighs as Hilary turns up the pleading. “No, c’mon, I’m _not_ playing cards with you.” A pause. “Seriously, I _won’t_.”

“Fine,” Hilary says, acting like she’s just been stabbed. “I see how it is. I’ll just sit here, bored to death - “

“If you’re really that bored, I’ll go get Brianna, ” Amanda threatens. “ _She’ll_ have ideas for things you can do.”

Hilary sits up straight and winces. “No, I’ll be good, I promise,” she says. “What were you working on?”

“Who says I was working on anything?” Amanda mutters, but gives up and goes to get out her notebook when Hilary pointedly eyes where it’s lying on her bunk next to her guitar.

“It’s not done yet,” she says in caution, before passing the notebook over. Hilary lets out a little “mmm” noise of understanding as she takes the notebook and starts scanning over it, humming the little snatches of melody Amanda has written down.

“Play it for me?” she asks, and Amanda dithers for a moment before going to get her guitar. Her heart is beating a little fast and her fingers feel clumsy as she plucks at it. She’s very protective of her songs, usually - not even Phil or Noora have ever gotten to hear one before she’s done with it.

She plays it for Hilary, though - this new song that she’s been thinking of, that she started writing just after they started the tour, about having just met someone and feeling that you’ve known them all your life. It’s still rough in places, and Amanda just hums through some parts because she hasn’t figured out the lyrics yet, but she can see the shape of it, what it could be - and she likes it.

“Wow,” Hilary says after a moment. Amanda can’t quite look up at her, yet - her songs, especially her unfinished songs, have always felt incredibly personal. Like letting Hilary look at her naked, except somehow even more intimate.

“Anyway, it’s not done yet,” she mutters, grabbing the notebook away from Hilary and shutting it hurriedly. “But you get the idea.”

“It’s incredible, Kess,” Hilary says, softly, and Amanda manages to look up at her. She didn’t know people’s faces could _look_ like that, and it’s unfair. “ _You’re_ incredible.”

This feels like another capital M Moment, and Amanda feels herself swaying towards Hilary before she can stop it -

“Hey, Knighter!” Kacey sticks her head around the partition that separates the sleeping area from the rest of the bus and makes a face at them. “We need you to come settle a bet. You too, Kess.” She pulls her head back, but the Moment has already been broken, and Amanda hears Hilary sigh.

“Duty calls,” she jokes, but Amanda doesn’t think she’s imagining the disappointment in her voice, and her heart jumps a little with excitement and hope.

0o0o0o0o0

_Being on tour with The Pride is certainly never boring_ , Amanda reflects as she sprints down the hallway of their most recent venue away from a cackling Brianna. The four of them are a lot of fun to hang out with, and so are all of their band and crew - and of course there’s never a dull moment around Brianna Decker.

“Surrender!” Brianna yells, and Amanda looks over her shoulder in time to see Brianna pumping the chamber on her super-soaker full. She dodges around the first corner she sees in just enough time to hear the splatter of water on the ground and Brianna’s groan of frustration.

“Never!” she calls back, and keeps moving, weaving through the chaos of crew and band backstage. The crew are laughing at them both, but no one’s objecting yet - Brianna’s being very careful about not getting water on the electronics. Between the running and the non-stop, uncontrollable giggling, Amanda’s almost out of breath when she turns a final corner and runs smack into Hilary.

“Hil! Save me,” she gasps, and ducks behind her just as she hears Brianna come whooping around the corner. She catches Hilary right in the chest with the blast of water.

There was a beat of silence where Hilary just stared down at where she was suddenly soaked through and Amanda tried desperately to muffle her giggles. Then Hilary slowly looked up at Brianna.

 “This,” she says, “means _war_ , Decks.” Brianna grins, showing all her teeth.

“War, then,” she agrees, and blasts Hilary with the water gun again before running off, cackling madly.

“My hero,” Amanda says, her voice still a little choked with laughter. Hilary starts, like she’d maybe forgotten Amanda was there, then turns and bows deeply, taking off her snapback and putting it over her heart.

“At your service, m’lady,” she says, and Amanda feels her cheeks flame crimson as she bursts out laughing again. When she manages to look up, a little breathless, Hilary’s smiling at her in a way that makes her heart leap up in her throat.

“Before you go,” Amanda says, and Hilary’s eyes go wide as she steps close and pulls her down, kissing her. It was intended to be a quick peck, but Hilary immediately leans into the kiss, pulling Amanda even closer and opening for her eagerly. Amanda makes a shocked little sound and kisses her back for a moment, pressing into her - and then pulls away quickly at the shock of cold.

Hilary looks crushed and a little worried, but Amanda shakes her head, leaning up to kiss her briefly again. “It’s not that I don’t want to,” she explains quickly. “It’s that you’re still soaked through, and _cold_ , Hil.”

Hilary’s face brightens. “Oh,” she says, and looks down to where her shirt is plastered to her body, now completely transparent. “I should probably change, huh.”

“I mean, you don’t need to change on _my_ account,” Amanda says, now openly ogling her. Hilary laughs and preens a little, and Amanda swats at her affectionately. “But if you want to make out, then yes, I’m afraid you must no longer be wearing a wet shirt. Also, Decks will be back in like, five minutes I’m pretty sure,” she says when Hilary looks like she might just be thinking about taking the shirt off and getting to the making out. Hilary makes a face.

“You’re right,” she says, and straightens up. “Duty calls, after all. I’ll see you tonight?” 

“After the show,” Amanda promises, and goes off to find Bobby. There’s something she needs to talk to him about.

0o0o0o0o0

“So, um,” Amanda says that night on stage, after she’s done with her usual setlist and would normally be about to go off. “I’ve got a little surprise for you guys tonight.”

The crowd cheers, and Amanda blushes a little, laughs. She really does like touring with The Pride - the publicity has been doing great things for her album sales, and the crowds have started to sing along with her songs (not to mention Hilary). But she’s never done something like this before, so she looks down at her guitar for a long moment before looking back out over the crowd.

“It’s a song I’ve been working on lately,” she says. “I wrote it - well, it’ll probably be pretty obvious why I wrote it once I start, but I thought I would share it with you guys now.” She grins, and strums her guitar, glancing off into the wings. She’d gone to track down Meghan while Hilary and Brianna and Kacey were having a massive three-way water gun fight, and Meghan had laughed at her a little but had promised that she’d get Hilary backstage on time. And sure enough, she’s there, looking absolutely fantastic in her stage outfit and very curious as to what Amanda’s going to do.

Amanda takes a deep breath and launches into the song that she’d played for Hilary a few weeks ago on the bus, about meeting someone and feeling like you’d known them all your life, about friendship and love and that feeling you got when you knew someone was _right_. When the song comes to an end and the crowd cheers, she looks over into the wings again, and Hilary’s smile is like the sun.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to K, who betaed this like a champ in less than 12 hours. Love you, boo.


End file.
